Anomalous Propagation (AP) as seen by RADAR
What happened?
On May 10, 2023, some thunderstorms rumbled through southern Manitoba. In their wake, a sharp low-level temperature inversion set up and the RADAR picked up huge amounts of anomalous propagation (AP) as a result.
The imagery from this event is presented here. Note that the AP is rather obvious; correlation coefficient (not shown here) would also confirm the non-meteorological nature of most of the echoes.
What is anomalous propagation?
Per the AMS glossary, "A propagation path of electromagnetic radiation that deviates from the path expected from refractive conditions in a standard atmosphere."
"In standard propagation conditions, radiation transmitted horizontally at the earth's surface is bent downward along a path with a radius of curvature equal to 4/3 times the radius of the earth. Subrefractive propagation causes less bending of the ray and superrefractive propagation causes greater downward bending than in the standard conditions. AP clutter is an extended region of ground echoes caused by superrefraction."
RADAR images
Email the webmaster
Last update to this page: October 25, 2023